At the age of 11, Ryan Haney remembers calling in to I-95 Birmingham’s Top Rock, then-broadcasting on 94.5 FM, to try to win free tickets to see Jimmy Buffet at the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham, Ala. His father was away on a business trip and he wanted to win the seats to surprise him upon his return.
As if it were by fate, Haney turned out to be the lucky caller and took his father to the concert – officially marking the only radio contest he has ever won. Yet it kept 94.5 FM in the back of his mind – and now three decades later, he has a stake in the content going over its airwaves.
“I’ve been with this brand longer than over half of my life — which if you really think about it — it’s hard to believe,” Haney said. “It all comes full circle in some really unique ways, I think.”
Haney works as the program director of WJOX 94.5 FM, along with its AM equivalent and secondary station WJQX-FM in Birmingham. Growing up in the area gave him a distinct understanding of the marketplace, which is heavily predicated on NCAA college football. It is widely regarded as the second-most popular sports entity in the country behind the NFL and is imbued in the culture of the locale.
“The state of Alabama and the city of Birmingham is… the number one college football market in the nation,” Haney said. “When you have like-minded people that understand that and they love the town, they love the sport, and they love the community they’re in, it makes it real easy at times… to grow because everybody’s fighting for the same thing.”
When he was in high school, Haney interned at various radio stations but had transitioned to become a student assistant in media relations by the time he matriculated at Auburn University. His life changed, though, when he made a phone call to check in on his father and found out he was meeting with someone from WJOX, the local sports radio station.
In a nonchalant manner, Haney said over the phone that he would be interested in interning at the station – and was subsequently told to call its offices. The very next day, he was officially an intern at the station, gaining professional experience in sports radio. A few weeks later, he was offered a role as a producer, an opportunity he did not want to pass up which engendered a monumental change in his life.
“I really loved interning with the folks I was interning with at the time and so I asked my parents – I said, ‘I think I want to stay here. I really like this and I want to transfer,’” Haney said. “I transferred back to Birmingham to UAB to finish up while I was working. It all happened so fast; it really was a unique situation… but it all worked out.”
While he was taking classes to earn an undergraduate degree from UAB, he was spending large swaths of time each week at the radio station. Whether it was working on the morning show or running the board late at night during Atlanta Braves or Tennessee Titans games before the advent of widespread automation, Haney did whatever was necessary to become an asset to the broadcast outlet.
By the time he graduated college, he had already assimilated into working at the station on a regular basis, owned and operated by Cumulus Media, and was surrounded by “smart” and “passionate” colleagues and people he still considers mentors.
In 2004, WJOX was searching for a new program director to oversee the shows and content offerings by the station. Haney, who had been at the station for six years, discussed the possibility of applying for the job with general manager Dale Daniels. At the time, the station was broadcasting solely on AM 690, but proceeded to add a simulcast of its programming on 100.5 FM two years later.
“He believed in the vision that I had and at that point in time, he believed in a guy in his 20s [to] work with guys that had a lot more experience than him,” Haney said. “He believed in the vision and I’ll forever be grateful that he gave me that opportunity.”
Entering a new role as the program director of WJOX, Haney worked closely with Brian Jennings, the vice president of sports talk and news talk for Citadel Broadcasting – which was acquired by Cumulus Media for $2.4 billion in September 2011. The team Haney has had around him at the station has maintained a culture of innovation and success, beginning with the addition of sports talk personality Paul Finebaum to its airwaves in January 2007.
Finebaum was the host of the Paul Finebaum Radio Network, a growing broadcast property that had over 20 affiliate stations. However, his show emanated from WERC-AM, a news station owned by Clear Channel Communications. Once his contract expired, Finebaum signed on with the all-sports station WJOX-FM to expand the reach of his show and broadcast exclusively within the sports talk format.
Although Finebaum no longer broadcasts directly with WJOX-FM, his national ESPN Radio show is distributed to the station and various other affiliate stations on weekday afternoons. In fact, his national program finished second in the Nielsen fall ratings book with a 7.6 share among the demographic of men aged 25-54.
“I think good content is good content,” Haney said. “I think naturally in a market like Birmingham – because that’s what I can speak to – it’s very important. I think good content is good content no matter where it is [or] how you consume it, and the idea is [that] you want to put the best content out there that you can that will appeal to your core listeners.”
WJOX overhauled its lineup in July 2021, establishing a new morning show featuring Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic, both of whom are former college football players. The morning duo ranked second among men aged 25-54 in the latest Nielsen ratings book and has found success through their perspectives into dialogue listeners who have not played on the gridiron can comprehend.
Additionally, they both invest considerable amounts of time into preparing for each show and measuring which topics the audience has interest in due to the dwindling attention span of human beings.
“I would put their football knowledge up with anyone,” Haney said. “The passion they have – and I think that’s one thing you can tell about them on the air. It comes across; it’s a real passion they have for the game and I think it’s infectious.”
When most sports fans usually think about heralded college football programs, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide almost always makes the list. The team has won seven national championships since head coach Nick Saban joined the staff in 2007, and has also produced a number of Heisman Trophy winners.
College football in the state, however, extends far beyond the University of Alabama – as there are plenty of other teams in the area such as Auburn, Troy, and South Alabama. Even though the college football season concluded last week with thE Georgia defeat of TCU, it is still a primary topic of discussion on WJOX-FM and within other local media outlets.
It is, quite simply, part of the identity of Birmingham and other large college football markets. Therefore, if WJOX-FM decided to neglect that, local sports fans would likely find another media outlet where the sport is always a topic of discussion.
“We talk about college football every day,” Haney explained. “I’ve said for years: ‘Our season never ends.’ In the portal world; in the NIL world, it’s almost becoming like an NFL calendar where there’s always something going on.”
As a program director, Haney views himself as a resource to his employees, being available to give advice and provide his staff with all that is necessary to succeed. Moreover, he understands that everyone possesses unique talents and skills – and it is part of his job to identify, cultivate and subsequently utilize them to help enhance the aggregate product as best he can. Yet being able to do that is achieved through more than simply assigning people air time and giving his input when it comes to topic selection and show format.
“Empowerment’s big with me,” he said. “When your people know you trust them and they give you the freedom and they know you support them, that goes a long way. I’ve always tried to be that and I hope everyone that’s worked for me and works for me now would say that’s how I’ve tried to be with them.”
While Haney tries to keep the focus on internal matters and how the station can reach its goals, he maintains an acute consciousness regarding other media outlets, all of whom are vying for a share of the invaluable attention of consumers. In today’s day and age, there is cross-pollination in sports media when it comes to the mediums through which talent provide coverage of events and/or disseminate their opinions.
“The exciting thing for me when you look at just the sports landscape in media is [that] there’s so many outlets out there now that talented people are talented people,” he stated. “Talented people with the right coaching; with the right attitude; the right preparation [and] the right effort can excel in all different [facets] of sports media.”
Just as a baseball team tries to do with a star prospect or a basketball team with its first-round draft pick, developing talent and subsequently watching it realize its full potential is particularly fulfilling. Aside from working in radio, Haney coaches his childrens’ sports teams and watches as they progress and improve with each practice and game.
He draws parallels between coaching a sports team and being a program director wherefore the roles are symbiotic in that the lessons learned from one can apply to the other. Acting both as a scout and development coach, Haney has become even more well-rounded and versatile as a manager and coach as he has amassed more experience and expertise.
“You’re helping people grow; you’re trying to coach people [and] get them where they want to be to reach their personal goals… within what their brands are trying to do,” Haney said. “….When people come in; seeing where they are, seeing the creativity and seeing the dedication – seeing really the belief that they have in watching them grow – it’s very satisfying and I think that’s ultimately why I fell in love with it and still love it today.”
Working as a program director is not Haney’s only role in the company, as he has also been serving as the operations manager for Cumulus Birmingham since 2011. As a result, Haney often finds himself busy doing work, albeit in an industry for which he garners great passion and interest, and never finds himself focused on the same given task each day. His dual job fluctuates in nature but no matter the role, coaching and mentoring his colleagues at the station is paramount in ensuring sustained development across the board.
“It’s making sure that you find time for everyone because at the end of the day, whatever one person’s dealing with is the most important thing to them,” Haney expressed. “If I’m going to be honest, I probably wasn’t the best at that at times but I think over the last few years, I’ve gotten a lot better with that.”
Bruce Gilbert is the senior vice president of sports at Cumulus Media and Westwood One, and someone who has helped Haney augment his skills as a manager in a business centered around its people. Despite not joining the company until 2015, he has made an indelible impact on its employees while broadening its vast portfolio and numerous partnerships.
“I’ve learned so much from him and he’s really challenged me in so many ways,” Haney said. “I feel like I’ve grown as a manager and really as a person since I’ve been working with him.”
By surrounding himself with established professionals and other skilled colleagues, Haney has learned to worry about what the station is able to control rather than chasing perfection or certain desirable numbers in the ratings. He regrets hyperfocusing on metrics and other circumstances out of his control earlier in his career and now operates on a daily basis to be present for his staff and serve as an exemplary leader as best he can.
“I’ve had ratings books throughout the years where I didn’t think we hit our marks and we had really high numbers,” Haney said. “I’ve had ratings books through the years where I thought the content was spot-on; the focus was done really well and we didn’t register for whatever reason. You have to take it for what it is. Like anything, I think it’s all what you want to learn from it no matter what it says.”
Regardless of what the ratings may indicate, WJOX-FM looks to continue producing stellar content while remaining at the forefront of innovation in the sector. It brings listeners local shows on 94.5 FM and nationally-distributed programming on WJQX-FM (Jox 2) and WJOX-AM (Jox 3) from ESPN Radio and FOX Sports Radio, respectively.
Fostering partnerships and thriving in the industry not only requires an ear for appealing content though; it also means establishing and preserving professional relationships across the board. Paul Mason, the program director of 104.5 The Zone in Nashville is someone Haney often calls to discuss ideas with and sometimes asks for advice in certain scenarios.
“Everybody’s trying to put the best content out they can, and there’s a lot of smart people in a lot of different areas in sports media,” Haney said. “I think maintaining as many relationships as you can [and] just having conversations with people – the exchange of ideas – I think makes us all better.”
Innovation in sports media requires managers and their larger entities to face the reality of change. Although change is necessary, it is not always looked at fondly – and usually even less so if it incurs costs with no guarantee of generating revenue. It is through change, however, in which breakthroughs in broadcast media have arisen, such as the advent of podcasts, digital programs, OTT platforms and streaming services.
Having an aspect in determining the timeline of sports media content and discovering new ways to reach consumers is a part of the job that energizes Haney. He works tirelessly each day to do his part in giving WJOX-FM and its associated stations the chance to capitalize on its strengths and improve on its weaknesses.
Simultaneously, looking at areas of potential opportunity and/or threats creates a sentience of what is occurring beyond studio walls, affording the entity a more comprehensive understanding of its position in the marketplace when evaluating its internal and external key performance indicators.
“I might [have viewed] things as a roadblock,” Haney said about the early stages of his career. “I’ve really tried over the last several years to view things as an opportunity. It’s just crazy how fast everything’s moving, and I think we’re all – in all walks of professional life – adjusting on the fly.”
In adopting this growth mindset, media professionals can evince chances to contribute to new, perhaps previously unforeseen sectors of the industry. Rather than stubbornly insisting adherence to mundane principles and outdated technologies, grasping the wheel and exploring new areas harbors curiosity and invigorates those passionate for the craft.
“I’m excited about where sports radio and everything that it touches and sports media in general is going,” Haney said. “I think there’s more opportunities and so many talented people out there in so many different walks of what we do that we’ve got a chance. The best is still yet to come.”
Being relentless and working to achieve goals is what has allowed Haney to remain with the same company for nearly three decades – first as an intern and now as a program director and operations manager. He never sought to work in media, initially having some interest in working either as a public relations practitioner, attorney or sports agent; however, following his passion led him to radio, the medium so prevalent throughout his youth.
The key to endurance is to always have a sense of momentum rather than maintaining a constant sense of unimpeded inertia – along with staying invested in the journey filled with vectorized moments of rapid acceleration and, conversely, times where you just need to jam on the brakes and de-velocitize.
“I think so many times now with as fast as we move and this short attention span-society where everybody wants that immediate gratification – ‘I want this; I’m going to work hard…’ ‘Okay, I worked hard for two weeks and it didn’t happen so I’m going to give up,’” Haney posed. “Don’t do it; don’t do it. Have your process; trust your process; work on making that progress and always dream big.”
